MP3 Bitrate for your X50v

iwantanaxim · 12-19-04, 10:41 PM

Was wondering what bit rate people are using for their mp3's on their x50v and why? Can you really tell the difference between bitrates above 128?

Howard2k · 12-19-04, 10:43 PM

It's really personal preference. Different people will notice subtle differences. I encode all my digital music at either 160Kb/s or 192Kb/s using AAC. For MP3 I'd go with 192Kb/s or higher.

The best thing to do is encode the same song in a couple of different bitrates and see if you can tell the difference. The find one that is an acceptable compromise of space and sound.

tsl90 · 12-19-04, 10:47 PM

The first encoder I had only did 256. The files were really too big. Now I'm doing 128 or 160. Haven't listened a lot but quality seems OK.

TL

Don't Panic! · 12-19-04, 10:55 PM

iwantanaxim-Thank you for not asking "What's the best < insert program/device here >..." That's a pet peeve of mine in PPC discussion forums. ;) Its great to see someone using the scientific approach

The only difference I see/hear between 128 and 192 is larger file size at 192. I haven't tried using variabile bitrate yet but that might solve the file size issue. VBR files use less memory during the quiet parts. YMMV.

Razor Blade · 12-19-04, 11:54 PM

Well, I havn't got my PPC yet, but I'll be using either 160 or 192. Anything lower sounds bad to me (on songs) and anytthing higher I view as a waste of space, because I can't hear any difference. Each person to their own though.

ironchef · 12-20-04, 02:12 AM

lame 'standard' preset which is VBR averaging 160, I think.

I find that a lot of music is kind of lacking at 128 CBR.

ikarus_x · 12-20-04, 02:32 AM

regular "pop" or rock music doesn't need much more than 128 or 160 (on mp3) to sound "good", so I stick to 128 most of the time.

However, having something lower than 320 for classical music is almost out of the question (unless you use vbr @ 256), although somewhat costly on memory and battery consumption, IMO

webcamv · 12-20-04, 02:40 AM

does the answer also depend on listening to the music from the built-in speaker or headphone/earphone?

CSfLiPfReAkZ · 12-20-04, 04:31 AM

i personally use WMA 48 and 64kbps...i found mp3's at 128kbps and higher to be too big since i use only a 128mb sd card...anything below a 128kbps MP3 file sounds crappy and when comparing a 48kbps file to a mp3 at the same bitrate, WMA sounded ALOT better and the file size was ok. if anyone knows of a better file format than WMA that sounds much better at comparible bitrates and lower filesize, please post.

stela · 12-20-04, 04:46 AM

Originally Posted by CSfLiPfReAkZ

if anyone knows of a better file format than WMA that sounds much better at comparible bitrates and lower filesize, please post.

That would be Ogg Vorbis.

CSfLiPfReAkZ · 12-20-04, 04:49 AM

Originally Posted by stela

That would be Ogg Vorbis.

hmm last time i did a comparison with ogg vorbis, i used a 160kbps mp3 and converted it to a 64kbps mp3,wma, ogg...i found wma and ogg to be of higher quality but ogg was a tad bit bigger in regards to filesize...so i stuck with wma...

Howard2k · 12-20-04, 07:37 AM

You shouldn't convert from one lossy format to another.

AAC and OGG score higher than equivalent MP3/WMA bit rates. WMA also tends to score higher than MP3.

But - LAME VBR is good.

12-20-04, 09:49 AM

ogg vorbis and mp3 differences are not that high in normal bitrate ranges (from 112 to 192) with the exception of 160kbps. Other than that, I always use wma for pocket pcs (depends on the source, if i am able to get the CD to rip myself i'd use ogg 160 or vbr -r3mix mp3)

_thom · 12-20-04, 10:26 AM

I think there is a huge difference between 128 and 192. Im re-ripping all of my CDs that were ripped at 128 as 192. I dont think there is a big difference between 192 and 256. But 128 is definately quiter and I have to have the volume up louder.

ooosadface · 12-20-04, 11:15 AM

I use WinAmp Pro to rip my CDs to MP3s. It has a prest built in called "--alt-preset standard". It uses VBR and I set the lowest to 128 and the highest to 320 (so I voted for 256). There is also a setting for 'VBR Q' with a number from 0-9. I have that set on 2. I have no clue what it is for nor do I care because my mp3s sound great. I used to use 128 for everything but now that I started listening to it this way I can't go back. It looks like (this is NOT scietifically derived)my files are about 1 mb bigger for every 4 mbs (if that makes sense). So a 4 mb file at 128 is now, on average, a 5 mb file. Some a little larger and some a little smaller than the 1 mb difference depending on the quiet spots in the song.

Also, this (Link to EQ thread is making a world of difference! No more software EQ for me!

Rambling now, I'm done... :hide: